


Autograph

by absolutebeginner



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 17:50:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12846360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absolutebeginner/pseuds/absolutebeginner
Summary: Natori has not been coming to the latest exorcists reunions. Seiji wants to know what's going on.





	Autograph

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the pairing being in the tags it is barely there. Mostly just hints of onesided pining. I'm bad at writing angst since most of my ideas tend to be ridiculous or embarrasing situation for everyone involved, and so this is as angsty as i'll ever be.
> 
> I wrote this as a birthday gift for my friend [pettypingpongpaddle](http://pettypingpongpaddle.tumblr.com/), and although it is late because i didn't considered the time difference, it features one of our recurrent headcanons related to this awful exorcists: Matoba's secret stash of Natori Shuuichi merchandise lol. So happy birthday Aul!!! :'D

Researching one of his fellows exorcists is not something unusual for the Matoba clan, Seiji reasons, specially if said exorcist has been missing the last reunions. Seiji knows Natori Shuuichi has just finished high school, as he himself is in his last year, but he never would have taken him as someone who prioritizes mundane studies over the world of knowledge exorcism could provide. Just to be completely sure he had questioned Takuma-san about his whereabouts as subtly as he could in the last reunion. He likes to think the surprise he depicted was due to the fact that he’s noticed his absence as well and not at all about Seiji’s interest in him. They are colleagues from the same generation after all, even if Natori’s power can’t be compared to his own.

Hearing his name, his _full_ name at that, in an environment as foreign as his classroom is unexpected and therefore, he can’t be blamed to pay closer attention to whatever a group of girls are squealing about. Something about a store in the city and _him_ being there. Why would they know about that is still a mistery for Seiji, even as he walks down the street that would take him to the place the girls were talking about. When he arrives he is surprised with the view: there’s a crowd outside the store. Some of the workers (he thinks they are wearing a uniform that matches the colors of the store’s logo) are trying to reign in the crowd and barely succeed into forming a line so they can enter the place in orderly fashion.

Seiji’s curious so he walks to the store and is surprised by the amount of posters and banners announcing the day’s event: the cast of a recent movie success is there to sign autographs. That is weird. Did Natori come to this event? Seiji tries to make his way inside but is stopped by one of the very tired employees.

“You have to buy a piece of merchandise to have it signed up by one of the actors to be in the line” the employee gestures to the showcase at his back. Seiji turns around and is face to face with a gigantic poster of none other than Natori Shuuichi in an exaggerated pose and a too much obvious fake smile. The title of the movie is displayed at the bottom of the poster but the lizard curled up around Natori’s neck is too distracting for him to notice anything else. He can’t help to smirk at that. Shuuichi-san an actor? What is that about? Did he ditch his gig as an exorcist? Too bad… he was finally getting the hang of it. He glances towards the large table where the actors are signing autographs and sure enough there’s the telltale of a mop of blond hair. He’s too far away for him to determine if that person is actually Natori Shuuichi, but doesn’t surprise him at all that his spot at the table seems to have the longest line and the loudest one, what with all the girls fawning over him. Seiji reaches for one of the rolled up posters, replicas of the one in display, and at his back the employee scoffs and mutters to himself a soft ‘of course’ though not silently enough that he couldn’t hear him. He doesn’t care about his opinion anyway, so he takes the poster and flashes a cheeky smile to the overworked attendant.

After enduring a long line to pay for his purchase Seiji is relocated in an even longer line to get it signed. He wonders if all of this hassle is actually worth the tediousness, the noise, and the amount of people around him. The arguments that win him over are having some leverage to use if necessary (blackmail material maybe?) and knowing why he’s been out of contact from the exorcists world (the location is probably not adecuate to discuss that topic as it seems that there is a fair amount of photographers and cameramen around.) Seiji shoves the invasive fleeting thought of wanting to see him again to the depths of his mind berating himself for even harboring those kind of ideas.

Seiji finally reaches the table and finds himself in front of Natori Shuuichi. The boy seems really tired and fed up. Seiji puts his poster over the table in front of the actor and he can see him grimacing, although it lasts less than a second. Immediately he flashes a sparkly and -very fake- smile asking “Who should I sign this for?” and although he can’t deny it could fool a girl or two hundreds, he kind of feels bad for him. He hasn’t even looked at him. He doesn’t look at his fans' faces. Oh well, back to business.

“Hello Shuuichi-san” he answers calmly. Natori’s face changes instantly and almost throws the table with the speed he stands from his seat.

“Matoba Seiji!” he exclaims almost horrified, and it could be Seiji’s imagination but the store has gone quieter than before. He feels eyes staring at them.

“It has been so long” he says, and suddenly, not only eyes are focused on them, but flashes and lights start to go off around. As he thought a place with so many cameras around wouldn’t be the best place to interrogate Natori Shuuichi.

“What are you doing here?” he asks still bewildered by Seiji’s presence.

“I was just wondering the same about you. We haven’t seen you lately in any reunion, so I wanted to know what happened to you, Shuuichi-san.” As amusing as the situation actually is, there’s no reason to beat around the bush right now.

“But how did you know about this?” he insists nervously. His hands tremble slightly with the force he’s gripping the side of the table.

“I’ve got my ways. I can’t reveal our Intel, but I’m surprised you are this schocked about seeing me in a public event.”

Natori’s jaw clenched painfully and Seiji knows he doesn’t have a way to reply to that, but suddenly a young and beautiful woman puts her hand over her fellow actor’s shoulder in a way that tried to be comforting as well as protective. She spoke softly so the journalists wouldn’t hear her, but Seiji could “Natori-kun… is he bothering you? Should I call security?” the actress seems concerned and eyes Seiji warily. He grins at her but doesn’t miss the way Shuuichi deflates and tells her “No, it’s fine. I’ll handle this” the hand retrieves hesitantly and then, looking back at Seiji Shuuichi-san addresses him, a little bit of edge in his voice “You should leave. This is completely unrelated to the Matoba cla… with all of you, so you don’t have any right to bothering me here.”

“I didn’t know I would be so unwelcomed” Seiji tells him feigning hurt putting a hand over his chest mockingly. Then taking the poster from the table he smiled “I’m taking this. After all, I payed for it." he says as he calmly starts rolling the poster up. When he's finished he adds airily "Take care Shuuichi-san. I hope you come back to the reunions. They can be pretty boring sometimes but there are some interesting things as well from time to time.” As Seiji marches out of the store he still fells the camera’s flashes going off following him outside. He probably caused a bit of trouble for Natori Shuuichi but he’s sure he’s smart enough to cover it up.

***

Rumaging through some of the tools and exorcist material guarded by the Matoba family, Seiji finds what he’s looking for: a ceremonial box capable of containing a very powerful youkai. There’s no shortage of similar objects in possesion of the Matoba clan, so he’s pretty sure nobody’s going to miss this particular cage, and it’ll perfectly serve his purpose. In case Nanase-san or some of her subordinates go through his stuff they’ll know better than to open a sealed box like this or to ask questions about it. Seiji takes the box to his room where he has prepared a fake seal for the box. Inside he nestles the poster he purchased earlier that day, closes the lid, puts the seal, and furiously shoves it inside his closet determined to not to think about it for the rest of the day.  
The contents of the box keep growing over the following weeks. A movie ticket, some CDs, magazines and newspapers, a DVD…

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are welcomed. Thanks for reading!!
> 
> my tumblr is [this one](http://absolutebeginnerthings.tumblr.com) if you wanna chat


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